Fun with File Formats | The Signal via Library of Congress

This is a pretty geeky post, but if you are interested (or concerned) about digital archives, this should provide some great info on the wide variety of file formats available both in the present and historically. – Douglas

Are you a file format fan? If you’re curious how to pronounce the still image format HEIF (spoiler alert: it rhymes with “beef”) or the difference between PDF/A-3 and PDF/A-4, the Library of Congress’s Sustainability of Digital Formats (a.k.a., Formats) is the place for you. To help you satisfy your need for in-depth technical, and perhaps more than a bit nerdy, knowledge about all things digital file formats, we’ve decided to start a regular series about what we’re up to. Welcome to Issue Number 1 of Fun with File Formats!

The Formats site is one of the premiere resources in the world for in-depth information about digital file formats. It covers over 525 formats, encodings and wrappers in a variety of content categories – sound recordings, still images, datasets, textual materials, moving images, website and web archives, geospatial, music composition, 3D and architectural drawings and many more (see below).

Read Fun with File Formats | The Signal via blogs.loc.gov

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